MOSCOW (AP) \u2014 Russia on Monday suspended its mission at NATO and ordered the closure of the alliance\u2019s office in Moscow in retaliation for NATO\u2019s expulsion of Russian diplomats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earlier this month, NATO withdrew the accreditation of eight Russian officials to its Brussels headquarters, saying it believes they have been secretly working as Russian intelligence officers. NATO also halved the size of Moscow\u2019s team at its headquarters from 20 to 10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moscow has dismissed the accusations as baseless. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov delivered Moscow\u2019s response Monday, announcing the suspension of Russia\u2019s mission at NATO and the closure of the alliance\u2019s military liaison and information offices in the Russian capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He charged that the alliance\u2019s action has confirmed that \u201cNATO isn\u2019t interested in any kind of equal dialogue or joint work,\u201d adding that \u201cwe don\u2019t see any need to keep pretending that there could be any shift in the foreseeable future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lavrov added that contacts between the Western military alliance and Russia could be maintained through the Russian Embassy in Belgium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs a result of NATO\u2019s deliberate moves, we have practically no conditions for elementary diplomatic work and in response to NATO\u2019s actions we suspend the work of our permanent mission to NATO, including the work of the chief military envoy, probably from Nov. 1. Or it may take several more days,\u201d Lavrov said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russia\u2019s Foreign Ministry said in a separate statement that NATO\u2019s actions \u201cconfirm that they are not interested in an equal dialogue and joint work to deescalate military-political tensions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe alliance\u2019s line towards our country is becoming more and more aggressive,\u201d the ministry noted. \u201cThe \u2018Russian threat\u2019 is inflated in order to strengthen the internal unity of the alliance, to create the appearance of its \u2018relevance\u2019 in modern geopolitical conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu said the alliance has taken note of Lavrov\u2019s statement, but added it hasn\u2019t yet received an official notice from Moscow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said in Luxembourg that \u201cthis decision taken in Moscow will further prolong the difficult situation we\u2019re in, this frosty period that\u2019s been going on for some time,\u201d adding that \u201cthis will put a further serious strain on relations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGermany has repeatedly pushed for dialogue with Russia within NATO over the past years,\u201d Maas noted. \u201cWe have to recognize once more, that Russia apparently no longer is. That is more than regrettable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Russian mission isn\u2019t based at NATO\u2019s headquarters, but in a leafy neighborhood in the south of the Belgian capital, Brussels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NATO suspended practical cooperation with Russia in 2014 after it annexed Ukraine\u2019s Crimean Peninsula, but has kept channels open for high-level meetings and for military-to-military cooperation. But the NATO-Russia Council, their preferred forum, has only met sporadically since then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Amid a strain in ties, Moscow has repeatedly voiced concerns over the deployment of NATO forces near Russian borders, describing it as a threat to its security. Russia and the alliance also have blamed each other for conducting destabilizing military exercises near the borders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
___ Raf Casert in Brussels and Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MOSCOW (AP) \u2014 Russia on Monday suspended its mission at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":925,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=924"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":926,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924\/revisions\/926"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}